And what is a "Burner Professional" anyway? We are all something else the other 51 weeks a year not at Burning Man. Choosing to that say about yourself here displays to everyone much more than how many tiimes you've visited the playa. As for living in LA, a town full of strangers looking desperately for connection, this again speaks volumes.

The event in itself also functions as a network, so any attempt to recreate in the "real world", while imposing modern real world ideas like "professional", "organization", or "charter member" on that itself, is contrived.

So why must there be a physical entity for what is at basis. a spiritual connection? There lies the difference itself in what could be considered an Individual and a Professional. One seeking self-expression as to one seeking acceptance.

I admit I was tempted by the first post, but that last one reeled me back in. Consider the possibility of just being a nice person that people want to be around FIRST and make friends with people you LIKE, and let business flow as a natural occurance of these relationships. It runs when I chase it, so I just try to be open to it.

In the default world, I have been a member of BNI for networking for many years and it can work pretty well. They all know I'm a burner and that I try to bring the ethics to the group.

It's funny, after 3 years on the playa and meeting hundreds of people I have never felt judged or analyze...before this. I see this a lot on the ePlaya, thank god not on the real playa.

I am not here to pick a fight with anyone so I will not retort to the slew of judgements that were made about me and my intent from a complete stranger.

I will restate: this is a wonderful opportunity for a connection that I believe could be made with like-minded wonderful peopel, just like happens all over the playa for all sorts of interests and activities. I am fortunate enough to be able to express myself through a career which I am passionate about that alows me to help people 52 weeks a year. I trust that some other burners feel this same way. This is just an opportunity to meet quickly, and talk about it later off the playa.

If you think this is a bad idea or chose to judge it or its intent (or the town it was hatched in) please simply move on. Why would you want to discourage good people from connecting and maybe adding a little more good into this world the other 51 weeks????

I've been watching this thread pretty closely and the reactions have been interesting to put it mildly. I think I see what he's trying to do here and I don't read anything more into it than what it is on the surface...another group of burners trying to carry the BRC spirit to the rest of the world...just as other groups already do. It happens to be going off into the working world and professional groups which others already distrust...still I think the flak is worth flying through for this.

I can't PM and I have so much on my plate I may forget about this for a bit...but it's an idea I hope gets airborne! Best of luck to you and just keep on flying through the turbulence....there's gotta be clear air ahead.

K-IV
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Thank you for over 7 years of eplaya memories. I have asked Emily Sparkle to delete my account and I am gone. Goodbye and Goodluck to all of you! I will miss you!

Dogma Clause wrote:It's funny, after 3 years on the playa and meeting hundreds of people I have never felt judged or analyze...before this. I see this a lot on the ePlaya, thank god not on the real playa.

I am not here to pick a fight with anyone so I will not retort to the slew of judgements that were made about me and my intent from a complete stranger.

I will restate: this is a wonderful opportunity for a connection that I believe could be made with like-minded wonderful peopel, just like happens all over the playa for all sorts of interests and activities. I am fortunate enough to be able to express myself through a career which I am passionate about that alows me to help people 52 weeks a year. I trust that some other burners feel this same way. This is just an opportunity to meet quickly, and talk about it later off the playa.

If you think this is a bad idea or chose to judge it or its intent (or the town it was hatched in) please simply move on. Why would you want to discourage good people from connecting and maybe adding a little more good into this world the other 51 weeks????

Its funny. I've never felt that the eplaya felt anything like the physical playa vibe.
I think the idea of supporting business run by people with good hearts (what I feel overwhelmingly in BRC) is a great idea. We vote with our wallets every day. I choose my groceries based on where/how they are grown. I'd happily choose my banker, accountant, printer, etc. the same way. Unfortunately, the playa vibe doesn't always translate well to bytes and bits. (yet!)

I like the idea of a Burner network of professionals. I like associating with people that have similar interests and as a tradesman, I like being able to barter my skills with others, as well. For instance, I need welding on bikes, I'd like help with an art car project and some other playa-oriented stuff...as it happens, I'd also like help getting into investing, getting a new car (or an old car, because I don't have one at all, currently...), getting a website off the ground, finding venues for raves...there are all kinds of possibilities. I'll it started:

I'm a tree climber in Reno, NV. I split and deliver cord-wood, as well. I've been climbing for a little over a year and working trees and learing the ins and outs of the forest and maintaining the health of wild and landscape trees for five years. PM me if you want to do business with a burner. I'll do work for trade or cash.

Do you remember this statement from a very charasmatic leader that is still being quoted today. I think when people hear the word networking they get all wigged out for some reason. Ok, let's not say networking but instead let's think about the major underlying point. That is we (Burners) should not exist with the mentality that we live the BM ideals only for seven days out of the year and then come back to our default lives and wish we were abiding by them while we let the rules of engagement from the default world guide our lives until the next time we are on the Playa. What I am hearing from Dogma Chase and the others who are trying to start movements like this is off Playa and that is what it is "a movement," is that we need to be living as Burners in the default world too. How can we do this. Simple! We need to think of incorporating the principles and the community in everything we do. I was at my friends' new house the other day and they were talking about what needed to be built and what kind of art was needed and what kind of repairs were needed but the funny thing is that they were talking about buying things art from stores and getting contractors to come in. My question to them as Burners was why weren't they considering using others Burners for all of this. How many artists do we have in the Burning Man Community and we come home from the Playa and buy art for our walls from Wal-Mart? How many people build an infrastructure of a city for us to exist in on the Playa and we come home and contact non-BM contractors. Hello people what are we doing? Why arent' we thinking "Burning Man First?" We have every resource we ever need here at home. We just need to change our way of thinking. This is what we are doing. This might be a shameless plug but some other Burners and I are working on building a cooperative resource situation that is brought togethor by internet technology where burners can 24-7 bring contracts to the community from the default world that gives other Burners outlets to do what they do best while bringing in funds that go to a central BM resource bank of sorts. When those contracts come in, the people who bring them get to utilize the resources they need in exchange. This is called an economic enclave model that we see working wonderfully for the Cubans in Miami and in Jewish neighborhoods throughout the world. We want to build a Burning Man economy within the world economies that is not dependent on the money but is truly about exchange. In order to do this we in the community have to start thinking about utilizing Burning Man in exchange before we look elsewhere while at the same time getting others outside the community to pay to utilize them. This is what networking or pooling our resources can do. Look for more information on what I am proposing here at www.burningmanfirst.net. You can also hit me up by email to talk more about this concept at netneal@yahoo.com.

I fully support this idea and am interested in participating. Like many things in life we get out of something what we're willing to put into it. I believe that most burners involved will approach the idea with the right mindset, and that their intent is what will either make it a great thing or just another way to "network". I am happy and willing to try to make it a great thing.

Like anything in life, if you like it join and participate. If you don't believe in simply don't participate. If you were standing next to an art project on the playa and you didn't think it would work, would you criticize the artist as they were trying to build it?

I just wanted to show some support for Dogma Clause.
I'm one of Life's friends here in Tucson and we talk about this sort of thing ALL THE TIME. I've found that a lot of people in our little burner community down here share the same vision. In fact, the more burners I talk to, the more I find a general need to live the burner way in our everday lives. We are, at this moment (all of us, you too) creating our future.